Observations from Charlotte 49ers' victory over USC Upstate

Observations from Charlotte's 81-76 victory against USC Upstate:

-- Pierria Henry and Willie Clayton didn't start as punishment for their ejections against Florida State (Denzel Ingram and Shawn Lester starting in their place). Although their absence didn't seem to matter -- the 49ers (8-3) jumped out to a quick lead -- Henry especially never seemed to adjust to not being out there at the start. Although he had eight assists, he missed the only shot he took and fouled out in 26 minutes.

-- USC Upstate got back into it with the excellent 3-point shooting from Torrey Craig and some tough interior play by 6-11 Michael Buchanan. The Spartans hung with the 49ers on the boards (trailing just 32-30) and allowed Charlotte just  nine second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds for the game. The 49ers entered the game averaging 14.0 offensive boards.

-- This was Ben Cherry's coming-out party for the 49ers. He scored a career-high 20 on 6-of-8 3-point shooting. Upstate coach Eddie Payne admitted his team gave Cherry too much space to shoot (especially in the first half when Cherry was 4-of-5) and paid dearly for it. Remember when Cherry missed his first nine 3-pointers of the season? He's 22-of-34 since (64.7 percent).

-- As shaky as the 49ers were in the second half, this was a good one to win after the Florida State game. It gives them some confidence as they get ready for another ACC opponent in Georgia Tech on Dec. 29 at Halton. Yellow Jackets coach Brian Gregory knows the 49ers well: he coached against them at Dayton in the Atlantic 10 for years.